Chapter 7: The Dead Sea
Scrolls and the Gospel of Barn (Part
1)
Many of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity which
have been for many centuries accepted on blind faith (those
which differ from the beliefs of Muslims) are now beginning
to be challenged by some of the foremost scholars and
religious leaders of Christianity today.
As we have previously seen in section 1.2.3.1, only one
of the most glaring example of this can be found in the
British newspaper the "Daily News" 25/6/84 under the heading
"Shock survey of Anglican Bishops" We read that a
British television pole of 31 of the 39 Anglican Bishops in
England found 19 to believe that it is not necessary for
Christians to believe that Jesus (pbuh) is God, but only
"His supreme agent" (his messenger)
Indeed, this was testified to by Jesus in John 17:3
"And this is life eternal, that they might know YOU
the ONLY true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
With every passing day, the learned among Christendom are
drawing ever closer to Islam
"I shall turn away from my signs those who are
arrogant in the earth unjustifiably, and if they see all the
signs (in creation) they believe them not, and if they see
the path of righteousness they do not take it as (their)
path, and if they see the path of misguidance they take it
as (their) path. That is because they deny our signs and are
used to disregarding them"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Aaraf(7):146.
"They are not all alike. Of the people of the book are
a portion whom stand (for that which is right), who recite
the revelations of Allah throughout the night while
prostrate (before Him)"
The noble Qur'an, A'al-Umran(3):113.
"And Lo! Of the people of the Scripture are those who
believe in Allah and that which was sent down to you and
that which was sent down to them, humbling themselves before
Allah. They purchase not a trifling gain at the price of the
revelations of Allah. Verily, their reward is with their
Lord, and Lo! Allah is swift to take account."
The noble Qur'an, A'al-Umran(3):199.
The choice of the present four Gospels (including the
writings of St. Paul who is credited with single-handedly
writing the majority of the books of the New Testament) was
imposed in the conference of Nicea 325 C.E. under the
auspices of the Pagan Emperor Constantine for political
reasons. Literally hundreds of gospels and religious
writings were considered "Apocrypha" (which actually means
"hidden from the people") and destroyed. Some of these were
written by disciples of Jesus (pbuh), and not disciples of
disciples who had never met Jesus (pbuh), such as Paul. If
they were not more authentic than the current selection then
they were at least of equal authenticity. Some of these are
still available, such as the "Gospel of Barnabas" which
agrees with the Qur'an and even mention Muhammad (pbuh)
by name. Modern discoveries such as the discovery of
the dead sea scrolls (Qumran scrolls) have also confirmed
the claims of the Qur'an (such as their claim that no
nail shall touch the Messiah). The most ancient copies of
the Greek Gospels available today date fully three to four
centuries after the departure of Jesus(pbuh). The Dead sea
scrolls, however, coincide historically with the time of
John the Baptist. They were quickly dated from the 2nd
century BC through the 1st century C.E. by the script in
which they were written and by archaeological investigations
of the settlement near the Qumran caves. They were
discovered alongside the most ancient copy of the Old
Testament available today.
In an effort to defend the teachings of the current Greek
gospels, Mr. F.F. Bruce has the following to say in his book
"The New Testament documents. Are they
reliable?":
"It is worth mentioning here that striking affinities
of thought and language have been recognized between the
Gospel and the Qumran texts. These affinities must not be
exaggerated; the Qumran literature comes no where near
presenting us with such a figure as the Jesus of this Gospel
(John)"
Christian scholar of history readily confirm that after
the famous council of Nicea (325 C.E.), the church of St.
Paul (The Trinitarian Church) selected out of the over three
hundred Gospels in their possession the four that most
closely conformed to their doctrines. All others, including
the Gospel of Barnabas, were ordered completely destroyed.
They also ruled that all Gospels written in Hebrew were to
be destroyed. This practice continued until at least the
year 1616 C.E.
Well then, how did the Gospel of Barnabas reach us? It is
well known and recorded that the Gospel of Barnabas was
accepted as Canonical in the Churches of Alexandria till 325
C.E. Pope Damasus (304-384 C.E.) issued a decree that the
Gospel of Barnabas should not be read. This decree was
supported by Gelasus, Bishop of Caesaria who died in 395
C.E. Pope Demasus, however, did secure a personal copy of
the Gospel of Barnabas for himself in 383 C.E. and placed it
in his private library. Many decrees make mention of the
Gospel of Barnabas, such as the decree of the Western
churches in 382AD, Pope Innocent in 465C.E., the Glasian
Decree of 496C.E., Pope Hormisdas, and it is mentioned in
the Stichometry of Niceophorus. There are many others
who made note of this Gospel throughout history or obtained
their own copies.
In 478AD, the fourth year of Emperor Zeno, the remains of
Barnabas were discovered and there was found on his breast a
copy of the Gospel of Barnabas written by his own hand.
(Acia Sanctorum Borland Junii Tom II, pages 422 and 450.
Antwerp 1698) The famous Vulgate Bible appears to have been
based upon this Gospel.
Among the early Christians was a man named Irenaeus
(130-200 AD). According to the book "Jesus, Prophet of
Islam," by Muhammad Ata' Ur Rahim, Irenaeus quoted
extensively in his writings from the Gospel of Barnabas. In
the sixteenth century C.E. a close friend of Pope Sextus
(1589-1590) called Fra Marino, became extremely interested
in the writings of Irenaeus. One day he was invited to visit
the Pope and lunch with him. After eating with him, the Pope
became drowsy and fell asleep. Father Marino took to
browsing through the various books and manuscripts in the
private library of Pope Sextus and happened upon an Italian
translation of the Gospel of Barnabas. Father Marino
concealed it in his sleeve and left the Vatican with it.
This Gospel passed through many hands until it reached the
hands of "a person of great name and authority" in Amsterdam
"who during his lifetime, was often heard to put a high
value on this piece." After his death, it came into the
possession of J.E. Cramer, Councilor of the King of Prussia.
In 1713, Cramer presented this Gospel to the famous
connoisseur of books, Prince Eugene of Savoy. In 1738, the
library of the Prince, including this Gospel was
incorporated into the Hofbibliothek in Vienna where it now
rests.
Mr. Sale in his preface "To the Reader" of his
translation of the meanings of the verses of the noble
Qur'an says:
"
the discoverer of the original M.S., who was a
Christian monk called Fra Marino, tells us that having
accidentally met with a writing of Irenaeus (among others),
wherein Irenaeus spoke against Paul, alleging, for his
authority, the Gospel of St. Barnabas, he became exceedingly
desirous of finding an existing copy of this Gospel, and
that God of His mercy, having made Fra Marino an intimate
friend of Pope Sixtus V, (pope 1585-1590), one day, as they
were together in the Pope's library, his holiness fell
asleep, and the monk, to occupy himself, reaching down for a
book to read, the very first he laid his hand on proved to
be the very Gospel history that he was seeking. Overjoyed at
the discovery, he scrupled not to hide his prize discovery
in his sleeve; and, on the Pope's awakening, took to
leave of him carrying with him that celestial treasure, by
reading of which he became a convert to Muhammedanism
[sic]"
The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Gospel of Barnabas,
and the New Testament, by M. A. Yusseff, p. 119) (also see
Jesus a Prophet of Islam, by Muhammad 'Ata ur-Rahim, pp.
39-44, 76-77)
Only the popularity of this copy of the Gospel of
Barnabas saved it from the fate of most other copies. Most
copies of the Gospel of Barnabas had a tendency of
mysteriously disappearing into oblivion. This was the case
with a Spanish copy which mysteriously disappeared from the
College Library in England around the same time period. The
Gospel of Barnabas was translated into English by Mr. and
Mrs. Ragg and published in the Clarindon Press in Oxford in
1907. Dispite the fact that the authors disallowed the
authenticity of this Gospel, still, mysteriously all copies
disappeared from the market. Only two copies are known to
have escaped this mysterious fate. One copy is housed in the
Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The other is located
in the British museum. A new printing has been made off of
these copies and this printing is available today.
Many attempts have been made since the Gospel of Barnabas
was first inadvertently smuggled out of the Vatican vaults
and unveiled to the public to disprove it's
authenticity. This Gospel was found to support the Muslim
Qur'an so strongly that it was quickly recognized that
Father Marino must have stumbled upon a fabricated Gospel
written by Muslims which Muslims had later managed to
cleverly conceal in the Christian Vatican. Much has been
written on this topic, however, for those who would like to
see strong evidence of the great antiquity and authenticity
of this Gospel, they are directed to obtain a copy of the
book "The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Gospel of Barnabas, and The
New Testament", by M. A. Yussuff.
Some quotations from the Gospel of Barnabas:
In reply to a question by Philip, Prophet Jesus said:
"God alone hath no equal. He hath had no beginning,
nor will he ever have a end, ... He hath no sons, nor
brethren, nor companions."
Gospel of Barnabas:17
"... Verily ye have erred greatly, O Israelites, in
calling me(Jesus), a man, your God. ... I confess before
heaven, ... that I am a stranger to all that ye have said;
seeing that I am man, born of a mortal woman, subject to the
judgment of God, suffering the miseries of eating and
sleeping, of cold and heat, like other men,. Whereupon when
God shall come to judge, my words like a sword shall pierce
each one (of them) that believe me to be more than man,"
Gospel of Barnabas: 93
Regarding the apostle Barnabas himself, the Bible
commands:
"if he comes to you, receive him."
Colossians 4:10
(For more quotations from the Gospel of Barnabas, please
read the end of the following section titled
)
The Dead Sea Scrolls:
I have just alluded to the Dead Sea Scrolls in the
quotation by Mr. F. F. Bruce. Even with his staunch defense
of the text the New and Old Testament, even with that, we
find him saying "It is worth mentioning here that
striking affinities of thought and language have been
recognized between the Gospel and the Qumran texts. These
affinities must not be exaggerated; the Qumran literature
comes no where near presenting us with such a figure as the
Jesus of this Gospel (John)"
What is so noteworthy about this quote? Well, to answer
this question we need to begin with the story of the scrolls
themselves:
In 1947 a group of children stumbled upon the first set
of scrolls in a cave on the shores of the Dead Sea. These
scrolls were immediately identified as the work of a very
devout sect of the Jewish community that lived centuries
before the birth of Jesus (pbuh). Hershel Shanks says in his
book Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls:
"Such was the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls,
manuscripts a thousand years older than the oldest known
Hebrew texts of the Bible, manuscripts many of which were
written a hundred years before the birth of Jesus and at
least one of which may have been written almost three
hundred years before the journey of Mary and Joseph to
Bethlehem"
Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hershel Shanks, pp.
7-8
An immediate frantic search ensued through the remaining
caves in the region in order to find what other ancient
scrolls could be discovered therein. A small group of
"international" scholars in Israel were given exclusive
access to them and the rest of the world was all but totally
barred from gaining even the slightest glimpse of the texts
(Prof. Eisenman observes that one of the major stumbling
blocks for the publication of the scrolls was that "in
the first place, the team was hardly international") .
Prof. Robert Eisenman was one of the key players in the
drama that finally lead to the release of the scrolls. In
his book "The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered" we read:
"In the spring of 1986, at the end of his stay in
Jerusalem, Professor Eisenman went with the British scholar,
Philip Davies of the University of Sheffield, to see one of
the Israeli officials responsible for this - an intermediary
on behalf of the Antiquities Department (now
'Authority') and the International Team and the
Scrolls Curator at Israel Museum. They were told in no
uncertain terms 'You will not see the Scrolls in your
lifetimes'"
This stung them into action, and as a result of this
statement, a massive effort was launched and five years
later through a whirlwind of media publicity, absolute
access to the scrolls was attained. Prof. Eisenman
eventually received 1800 pictures of the previously
unpublished scrolls. The book goes on to describe how
"Eisenman was preparing the Facsimile Edition of all
unpublished plates. This was scheduled to appear the
following spring through E. J. Brill in Leiden, Holland. Ten
days, however, before it's scheduled publication in
April 1991, after pressure was applied by the International
Team, the publisher inexplicably withdrew and Hershel Shanks
(author of Biblical Archeology Review) and the Biblical
Archeology Society to their credit stepped in to fill the
breach".
However, finally in September 1991, the archives were
officially opened and two months later the 2-volume
Facsimile Edition was published.
We have already read the words of Mr. Tom Harpur in the
preface to his book:
"The most significant development since 1986 in this
regard has been the discovery of the title "Son of God" in
one of the Qumran papyri (Dead Sea Scrolls) used in relation
to a person other than Jesus...this simply reinforces the
argument made there that to be called the Son of God in a
Jewish setting in the first century is not by any means the
same as being identical with God Himself."
For Christ's Sake, Tom Harpur, pp.
xii.
So why don't we study these scrolls in a little more
detail and see what else we can learn?
The Dead Sea Scrolls consist of fragments from many
manuscripts, however, some of the most interesting among
them are the Pesher texts. The Pesher texts are
strings of interpretations of Biblical verses compiled by
the most knowledgeable among the Jews. The word itself is
derived from the Hebrew root word p-sh-r, which
means, "to explain". The texts consist of Biblical
passages followed by the words pesher ha-davar "the
interpretation of the matter is," and then the
interpretation itself.
The basis of all of these texts is the notion that all of
history is preordained by God. In other words, God is not
restricted to looking at matters as "past", "present", or
"future", rather, all of time is an open book to God (please
read the verification of this concept in Islamic belief in
chapter 11). Indeed, this is the essence of how prophets
receive "prophesies", because God "sees" the future.
So, remembering that we are henceforth quoting from texts
that have been carbon dated at about 100 years or more
before the coming of Jesus (pbuh), and that this dating is
confirmed by literary analysis, and that the authors were a
sect of very religious and devout Jews, considering all of
this let us see what they have to say:
Those who have studied the scrolls have noticed a common
theme prevalent throughout these manuscripts, that is, most
of the pesher texts prophesise the coming of a "Teacher of
Righteousness" who will be sent by God to the Jews. This
"Teacher of Righteousness" will be opposed by the "Teacher
of Lies" and the "Wicked Priest." These scrolls also predict
the coming of TWO messiahs. These two messiahs are
referred to as a priestly and a temporal messiah. What we
had here was a society of very devout Jews who were
convinced that the time of the coming of the two messiahs
was at hand, therefore, they set about preparing for their
advent by detaching themselves from the mainstream society,
and dedicating their lives to their worship and the
preparation for their imminent arrival.
"According to the dominant view in the sectarian texts
from Qumran, two messiahs were to lead the congregation in
the End of Days, one priestly, and the other lay"
Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Lawrence H.
Schiffman, pp. 321-322
In The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, by Robert
Eisenman and Michael Wise, we read that the early scrolls
spoke of TWO messiahs, but that later on, the communities of
the Jews began to combine them into one messiah:
"As we have suggested, contrary to the well-known
'two-Messiah' theory of early Qumran scholarship,
these references to the 'Messiah of Aaron and
Israel' in the Damascus Document are singular not
plural... and one possible explanation for it is that it is
evoking a Messiah with both priestly and kingly
implications, like the somewhat similar recitations of
Hebrews"
The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, Robert
Eisenman and Michael Wise, p. 162
The Jews had prophesies of two messiahs. The first was
best known to them for his "priestly" or "ecclesiastic"
works which he would perform. The second was best known to
them for his "kingly" or "military" works. These two
prophesies refer to Jesus (pbuh) and Muhammad (pbuh). Jesus
(pbuh) was best know for his "priestly" works. However,
unlike prophets such as David and Moses (pbut), he never
lead an army, he never established a kingdom or a
government, nor did he call his followers to wage war. Quite
the opposite, he always called to peace and submissiveness
and to leave the rule of the land to others (Matthew 22:21).
He told his followers that he yet had many things to teach
them but they could not bear them yet and that another would
be coming after him who would teach them the complete truth
(John 16:7-14). Muhammad (pbuh) too began by preaching
submissiveness and passiveness. However, his ministry was
allowed by God Almighty to mature to a point where it was
able to defend itself and establish justice in the earth and
abolish evil. Thus, just as many Old Testament prophets had
waged many wars against the pagans of the surrounding
nations, so too Muhammad's followers fought many wars
in the name of God and the Islamic empire finally stretched
from China to Spain. Even those who did not follow Muhammad
(pbuh) knew him well. However, what did they know him for?
They knew him for his "kingly" actions and not for the
"priestly" side of him that his followers knew.
"And fight against them until persecution is no more
and religion is for God alone. But if they desist then let
there be no hostility except against wrongdoers"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Bakarah(2):193.
"Those unto whom We gave the Scripture recognize him
(Muhammad) as they recognize their sons. But verily, a party
of them conceal the truth while they know it"
The noble Qur'an, al-Baqarah(2):146
Over time, the prophesies of the Jews began to become a
little blurred, and this in addition to the continuous
persecution of many nations towards the them eventually lead
to their blending of these prophesies such that we find them
in our present day to have combined them into one single
prophesy wherein they await this one all-conquering wondrous
event that would finally relieve them of their persecution
and pave the way for them to march forth conquering all
nations and establishing themselves as the protectors of the
kingdom of God. However, as we can see from their
prophesies, it was the second messiah who was to be
known for his "kingly" works, not the first.
For this reason, when we read the Gospel of Barnabas we
find that when the Jews ask Jesus (pbuh) whether he is "the
messiah" he responds to them that he is not "the messiah"
that they are expecting. This appears to be because Jesus
understood their question to be deeper than a mere search
for a title. They were not asking how to address him,
rather, they wanted to know whether he was the one who would
lead them in fulfillment of their hopes for leadership,
power, and grandeur that they had been waiting for for so
many centuries. For this reason, he told them that he was
not "the Messiah", but that "the Messiah" they were waiting
for would not come until later. He was referring to the
SECOND messiah in their prophesies (please go back and read
chapter 6.1 of this book). Indeed, both Muslims as well as
Christians are unanimous that Jesus was the "Messiah" of
God, however, Jesus appears in his response to have applied
his wisdom and knowledge of his people and their
expectations when answering their question.
Lawrence Schiffman says regarding Pesher
Habakkuk:
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